Published 11 months, 3 weeks ago
in site update.
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For The Common Folk has moved!
Apologies for the lack of posts over what has been many long months. Things were quite busy with work and moving into my new condo. I’ve also been waiting a little longer than I would have liked to test out new blog templates and sites to see which one I want to use going forward. My previous site host was great, but it ended up costing more than I would have liked and therefore I’ve decided to move back to using Google’s Blogger service. I never thought I’d be using this service again after using it a couple years back but they’ve since added some nice features and “Google-ized” it a little more to make it much more stable.
I hope you enjoy the new home for this blog. Again the URL is: http://4thecommonfolk.blogspot.com/
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Published 1 year, 4 months ago
in technology.
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I am a consultant for a living. I’ve been to 10+ clients by now who all have their own firewalls and set of websites which they block. Nothing’s more annoying than when I want to quickly check personal mail and I’m unable to as the gmail.com is blocked.
Well the title here says it all… this article will help you access gmail through a variety of means. My favorite: using Google Translate to translate an English site to English. This will theoretically work for any site! Happy Gmailing!
#1: Use different web addresses
Instead of using http://mail.google.com use https://mail.google.com
You can also try
* http://www.gmail.com or https://www.gmail.com
* http://gmail.com or https://gmail.com
* http://m.gmail.com or https://m.gmail.com
* http://googlemail.com or https://googlemail.com
* http://mail.google.com/mail/x/ or https://mail.google.com/mail/x/
Technorati Tags: blocked website, gmail
Published 1 year, 4 months ago
in business and technology.
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Image courtesy of New York Times
Ever wonder what a billionaire’s office looks like? Well contrary to what might be in your mind or in the movies, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, has quite the plain office. Check out these cool behind the scenes pictures of Steve’s legendary (or not so legendary) office. Very interesting!
The simple name plate to the office of Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, at the company’s headquarters. The door opens up to his small office on the 5th floor.
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Published 1 year, 4 months ago
in Uncategorized.
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I don’t think there’s one Chinese restaurant or buffet line that doesn’t have General Tso’s chicken. It is probably one of the most ordered takeout foods ever. But do we really know who the General is or how this dish came about? As this article uncovers, it was invented by a chef in his ventures in cooking in New York city.
The real roots of the recipe lie in the chaotic aftermath of the Chinese civil war, when the leadership of the defeated Nationalist Party fled to the island of Taiwan. They took with them many talented people, including a number of notable chefs, and foremost among them was Peng Chang-kuei. Born in 1919 into a poverty-stricken household in the Hunanese capital, Changsha, Peng was the apprentice to Cao Jingchen, one of the most outstanding cooks of his generation. By the end of World War II, Peng was in charge of Nationalist government banquets, and when the party met its humiliating defeat at the hands of Mao Zedong’s Communists in 1949, he fled with them to Taiwan. There, he continued to cater for official functions, inventing many new dishes.
When I met Peng Chang-kuei, a tall, dignified man in his 80s, during a visit to Taipei in 2004, he could no longer remember exactly when he first cooked General Tso’s chicken, although he says it was sometime in the 1950s. “Originally the flavors of the dish were typically Hunanese — heavy, sour, hot and salty,” he said.
In 1973, Peng went to New York, where he opened his first eponymous restaurant on 44th Street. At that time, Hunanese food was unknown in the United States, and it wasn’t until his cooking attracted the attention of officials at the nearby United Nations, and especially of the American secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, that he began to make his reputation. “Kissinger visited us every time he was in New York,” Peng said, “and we became great friends. It was he who brought Hunanese food to public notice.” In his office in Taipei, Peng still displays a photograph of Kissinger and himself raising wineglasses at the restaurant.
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Published 1 year, 4 months ago
in technology and entertainment.
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Image courtesy of Apple
How many times have you have you seen an iPod+iTunes commercial and thought, wow, I really like the background song, who on earth sings it? Well your wait is over. Click here for a list of songs in every iPod commercial. The site also includes links directly to iTunes should you want to preview the song or even purchase.
Technorati Tags: commercials, ipod, itunes
Published 1 year, 5 months ago
in health.
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Apologies for the lack of posts. I was on a business trip in Zurich for the past week and finally found some time to post.
Now on to the age old debate… are soft drinks called soda or pop or Coke or something else? Well someone with tons of free time decided to gather information from around the web to understand what regions of the country call it. Wait no longer… the results can be found here. I could have come to this conclusion much faster… it’s called soda and anyone that thinks otherwise is just wrong 
.
The primary source of data for this study will be submissions from readers of this web page. Obviously, this may not be a completely random sampling, but since the primary objective of the study is to map the regional distribution and not the population distribution per response, this sample should suffice. Also, since a large percentage of internet users are college students who may use dialects not local to their current place of residence, this survey asks for the respondent’s “home town” and the beverage-term used by most of the population there. This data will be imperfect at best, but should be the most accurate possible without actually going into the field, and certainly the most comprehensive study of the field to date.
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Published 1 year, 5 months ago
in science and health.
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For you beer drinkers out there, I finally found a comprehensive guide listing the number of calories and carbs for the world’s most famous beers. This guide even has information for wine and other alcoholic beverages. I’ve always known Guinness is calorically (is that a word?) competitive with lighter beers such as Coors Light and Bud Light, but now I know how all of these beers stack up. Happy drinking!
A commonly held misconception is that light beer is like diet coke - calorie and fat free. Although light beer does have fewer calories that the regular variety, the average light beer still contains upwards of 100 or more calories per 12 oz can. The following information is organized alphabetically by brand, and separated into domestic and imported varieties. Take a minute to locate your favorite brand, and check out its caloric value. If the number surprises you, scroll down to Calorie Reducing Tips for information on how to enjoy your favorite brand while warding off a potential caloric problem.
Technorati Tags: beer calories, beer carbs
Published 1 year, 5 months ago
in sites i use.
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Proof of my recent win
UPDATE: Back in August 2006, I posted the information below to my blog. This is a follow-up to let everyone know it truly works! I recently won Fandango movie ticket in addition the iTunes gift certificate I previously won. And I got it all for free… by simply performing a search! Just click this link to join. It’s that simple. Here’s to winning tons of free stuff!
ORIGINAL POST: This edition of “Sites I Use” features Blingo.com. Blingo is a search engine powered by Google that gives away prizes every day like Apple iPod Nanos, $150 Visa Gift Cards, movie tickets and more, just for doing what you already do: search the Internet. You win prizes by being the first person to search on Blingo after a randomly specified time (see details below).
You can also invite your friends to use Blingo, and when one of them wins a prize, you win the same prize.
Just click this link to join. Here’s to winning free iPod Nanos! And to prove this actually works, my friend Justin has won an iPod nano, a movie ticket, and an iTunes gift certificate. Enjoy!
How to Win on Blingo:
- Every day we pick a bunch of random winning times.
- The first person to search after a winning time wins instantly.
- Then the winner tells us where to send the prize.
Technorati Tags: blingo
Published 1 year, 5 months ago
in science and health.
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Here’s a new one… spicy foods can kill cancer? According to this article, new research has shown various ingredients of jalapeño peppers can trigger cancer cell death. This is certainly promising and I look forward to seeing what new treatments will be developed from this. But before you go running out to buy tons of peppers, read the article.
“It’s also possible that cancer patients or those at risk of developing cancer could be advised to eat a diet which is richer in spicy foods to help treat or prevent the disease.”
However, Josephine Querido, cancer information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: “This research does not suggest that eating vast quantities of chilli pepper will help prevent or treat cancer.
“The experiments showed that pepper extracts killed cancer cells grown in the laboratory, but these have not yet been tested to see if they are safe and effective in humans.”
Cancer Research UK recommends reducing the risk of cancer by eating a healthy, balanced diet, with plenty of vegetables and fruit.
Dr Bates added that the mitochondria in cancer cells could also be targeted by other compounds.
He said the investigation and development of anti-mitochondrial drugs for cancer chemotherapy was likely to be “extremely significant” in the fight against cancer.
Technorati Tags: cancer, spicy foods
Published 1 year, 5 months ago
in technology and news.
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Image courtesy of Apple and Appleinsider.com
Per my previous post, Apple recently released two innovative new products… the Apple TV and iPhone. See below for more details and extensive pictures of these two great new products.
- Apple TV: can be purchased now and will be available in February
- iPhone: targeting to be available in June pending FCC approval
What does this mean for the common folk?
First, if you want the iPhone, DON’T sign up for any long term cell phone contracts. iPhone will be sold exclusively through Cingular until 2009. I personally am a Verizon customer and must wait until my current contract ends in 2008 before I even think about this phone. Start saving your pennies now… the 4GB iPhone will retail for $499 while the 8GB will retail for $599!
Second, the Apple TV is nothing but good news for those of you who are sick of watching your hard earned music and TV purchases on your measly PC monitor. The Apple TV allows you to easily watch your TV shows and movies and listen to your music on that brand new widescreen TV many of you got around the holidays!
Technorati Tags: apple tv, iphone, macworld
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